Selfies can no longer be considered as a trend, they are now a phenomenon. Anywhere you go, there is a great chance you will get a glimpse of someone taking a selfie, even in the White House now, since it allowed them last week.

But selfies aren’t just for fun. Mastercard has started to use selfies as a way of payment!

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Mastercard, one of the giant banking payment systems, has decided to test facial recognition as a means of payment. Starting this autumn, some 500 users will get early access to a new app that requires from them to take a selfie to confirm a payment.

The app will be fairly easy to use. To validate a payment, users will simply have to grab their phone and shoot a self portrait. Technically, a bit more than a selfie could be required, as users opting for this payment method will have to blink in front of the camera to prove they are not using a static image of another user.

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This is only a pilot test but it already opens the way for further real life application of facial recognition services. Just last week, Facebook announced that its own recognition software is now so advanced, it does not even require to see your face clearly to identify you.

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Geoff is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of We are Social Media. He also leads the Social Media team at Zimmerman, an Omnicom agency based out of South Florida, USA. Geoff is also a visiting lecturer at Universities across Europe and the US, and an international #smm speaker.